If you wanna increase survival you should decide how you like to fight IMO. Eventually you can practice with all ships and learn when/how to use them, but at first I’d pick some basic things that you like. You say speed is important, so I suggest Interceptors. They can die easy, but not if you improve the rotation speed, give them a shield boost, and focus on intense offense. One way to do this is to go back and forth in attack runs from different angles, and escaping before they hit you too much. Don’t try to solo Guard Frigates if using Interceptors, unless you notice your weapon being particularly effective (sometimes they don’t match your weapon type with shield, or sometimes they have no hull resistance to that type of damage)
For overall survivability, it’s hard to bear an engineer with rotation boost and a modded out coil mortar. I like to increase the rate of fire, and decrease weapon heating/spread to get maximum use of it. I fill the the modules with healing and defense, often to support the team.
Another tip is to look at what the enemies and your other allies are using when you pick a ship. If you see a lot of intercepters, bring in an engy to support them, or a guard to spearhead the attack. If you see lots LRF on the other side, bring an interceptor and make waste of them.
Another tip is to stay back, and not try to lead an attack if nobody is near you. If you are being chased, run to some stronger allies, preferably some frigates, to get healed and also gain support. Most people won’t attack you if it’s 1 vs 3. Try to watch where other ships are, and look for stragglers on the enemy team. Try to lure them out, and retreat to a point where you can use cover to your advantage, or lead them back into a cluster of allies.
If you are playing beacon cap, i def recommend interceptors for the increased capture speed. If you cannot kill the enemies at the beacon, try circling fast and trying to avoid being hit instead of dealing damage. Capping a beacon is a solid 300 pts and gets you up there in score. Also, it’s hard to get killed if you spin fast, avoid pulsars, and watch for LRF missiles and coil mortar splash damage.
At the end of the day, pick any ship you think is cool and fun, and try to master it. You eventually will say to yourself “man i wish this ship had X” and then you look for mods that give you X. Usually a good way to play IMO.
Hope that helps a bit!
). I can’t seem to kill enemies fast enough (and i do hit them) while i die i matters of a few seconds whenever they sneeze in my direction. 